Never Gonna Happen
It was a nice enough morning as Piper ambled through Sanctuary Hills. Well, nice enough for the Commonwealth at any rate. It wasn't raining at least, so she didn't have to worry about any excess radiation over the normal background levels.
The reporter made her way over towards one particular house at the far end of the lane, though 'house' was not the first word that sprang to mind upon looking at it. It was more a jumbled collection of wood, steel and brick that had somehow been brought together to form some sort of vaguely coherent structure. Piper was fairly sure that it even defied the laws of physics here and there. Yet despite appearances to the contrary, her past experiences with the property had taught her that it was stable enough to step inside at the very least. It had stood tall for many weeks and months now after all, serving as the home of her friend and the Commonwealth's resident pre-war relic, Nora.
Blue, Piper thought with a sigh.
The sole survivor of Vault 111 had been on the reporter's mind an awful lot lately, though that was often out of Piper's control. Nora was often known to go off on all sorts of crazy adventures across the wasteland, typically heading head first into dangers any sane folk would steer well clear of. Sometimes she even brought Piper along for the ride, which was how the reporter found herself approaching Blue's door that very morning.
She had thought twice about agreeing to join the blonde on her latest escapade, but as a journalist, Piper would have been remiss to miss out on even the mildest and most mundane of Blue's exploits. Even if those jaunts across the Commonwealth could often pose a hazard to her health and sanity.
At least writing those adventures down for her newspaper added a nice sprinkling of spice for her readers, something to hook them in. Piper liked to think that it was intentional, but as much as her writings were to inform the people of the Commonwealth about local news and events, those stories also often served to inspire.
Those wild, exciting tales of heroism and adventure let her readers know that there really were good guys out there, fighting off all the baddies and standing up for the common man. Even if some of her readers were sceptical that anyone would ever really go toe to toe with a raging Deathclaw or a Mirelurk queen for instance, the story alone would often still bring a smile to their lips. Maybe Piper was just being soppy, but it brought a bit of spring to her step to think that hers and Blue's adventures brought even just a little bit of happiness to others.
Piper reached the cobbled together house and took the usual moment to remember where the door actually was. It was such a mess of a structure. For all of her many talents, sensible architectural design was clearly not in Blue's toolkit.
Then, shaking her head softly, Piper knocked on the sole wooden panel of the door. A few seconds passed before she heard footsteps on the far side of the door and it opened a moment later.
"Piper!" Blue smiled bright and wide as she greeted the reporter.
No matter what her mood, Piper couldn't help but smile back at the fabled Sole Survivor. The blonde woman was always such a delight to see, for she always seemed to have the widest smile on her face whenever Piper saw her. It was such an endearing expression, even though there was that painful looking scar gouged up across Nora's cheek and lips that would have made any other face a grimace. The wound never seemed to douse the light and life in the other woman's expressions not one bit somehow, even as it served as a constant reminder of Nora's trials.
It was always a bit strange to think about: that this slight, joyful and almost eccentric young woman had cut such a large, bloody swathe through the various monsters, raiders and assorted bad guys of the Commonwealth. At least Piper wasn't the only one who tended to think that way. More than a few times, she'd been witness to an incredulous double-take from a stranger meeting with Nora face to face for the first time, having expected a hulking figure of muscle and might from legend.
Aside from the scar on her face, the black leather jacket and the grey combat trousers Nora wore were among the other 'prizes' Blue had claimed from her battles over the years. The outfit was taken from the corpse of a foe who had fallen long ago, after he'd dared to cross her and her family. Piper would have thought wearing the trophy to be too macabre for her tastes, even in the cruel, cruel world of the wasteland, but damn it if the look didn't do wonders for Blue's already ample sex appeal.
Piper quickly quashed such thoughts with a light cough.
"Morning Blue." Piper smiled in return, though not at the same voltage of course. She doubted even the sun could ever reach Nora's levels of brightness and brilliance. "Ready to head out?"
"Nearly, just need to grab some things from upstairs." Nora opened the door wide and beckoned the reporter inside. "Come in, come in! I won't be a minute."
Piper duly crossed over the threshold. It was unfortunately just as much of a mess inside the building as was from the outside. Piper was just glad that she didn't suffer from migraines easily.
"I'll just be a sec!" Blue trilled before jogging off up the stairs at the back of the room. She only got halfway up however, until she nearly crashed into another figure who'd just begun to meander down the steps.
"Morning." Drawled an awfully familiar voice, the accent was heavy even through her drowsiness. Cait didn't let Blue respond, for she claimed her lips in a deep kiss.
Piper did her best to melt away into the décor and find something to take a sudden interest in. Her eyes settled on the rack of old world magazines that Blue was so fond of collecting. Her ears couldn't find a worthy distraction in the quiet morning however, not so much as a bird's call or a gunshot in the faraway distance, so she was forced to put up with those awfully personal, and awfully wet, noises.
"You didn't wait for me." Cait purred in playful disappointment.
"I'm heading out with Piper today, remember?" Blue smiled back.
Cait's gaze meandered over to find Piper standing there a little awkwardly. "Oh yeah, morning Pipes."
Cait's nickname for Piper had always drawn something of a slight scowl from the reporter. There was always something teasing behind it, mocking almost. It was something that had always just set Piper's nerves on edge, but she never could put her finger on exactly why.
"Cait." Piper nodded back with said slight scowl.
The redhead let the blonde go upstairs with a quick slap on the backside and a smirk as she ambled down towards the table in their makeshift kitchen.
"Don't stand on ceremony for me, Pipes." Cait smirked. "Have a seat."
Glancing up the stairs, Piper noted that there was no immediate sign of Blue returning, so she sighed softly and took the seat that was offered. Cait had her back to her for a minute or two as she prepared her breakfast.
Piper eyed the other woman silently. Cait was pretty much the polar opposite to Nora in nearly every way. Where Nora was slight and short, Cait was tall and brawny. While Nora's hair was a fairly neat little blonde bob, Cait's was a rough mane of dark red. It wasn't just the physical differences between them that were so jarring though. Piper had – through fairly limited interactions it must be said – found Cait to be self-centred, crass and even mean, whereas Blue was selfless to a fault and kindness personified. Just how and why the two women had ever ended up together was a complete mystery to Piper.
Then, Cait turned back around and ambled over to take the seat opposite Piper.
"So, what crazy plans has she roped you into this time?" Cait asked with a hint of a smirk.
"Well, Blue's got a lead on a new band of raiders by the coast. They've taken over some old shops on the seafront somewhere, supposed to be a bunch of jet heads starting their own little 'kingdom'." Piper said the word in disdain. In actual fact, it was little more than just a typical raider hideout, a base from which they launched raids and hoarded their ill-gotten loot in. "Blue wanted a hand in clearing them out."
"Sound fun." Cait inclined her head slightly with a bit of a grin. "Almost wish I was going as well now."
"You could come too, you know?" Piper offered.
The idea of Cait tagging along as well didn't particularly thrill her, but Piper knew she should at least try to get to know the redhead better. Blue was her best friend after all – hell, if she was being honest, she was Piper's only friend – and what kind of friend would Piper be if she didn't at least try to find some common ground with her best friend's lover?
It wasn't as though Piper and Cait were enemies or rivals exactly, but they had never been closer than casual acquaintances at most. It was odd really, seeing as they both probably spent more time with Nora than with anyone else in the Commonwealth. Well, Piper had her sister Nat of course and spent nearly all her time with the younger Wright when not with Blue, but who did Cait have besides Nora?
"Would love to, Pipes, but I've got a date of my own." Cait held up a hand with a half shrug as if to say 'can't be helped'.
"Oh?" Piper blinked, confused at the wording more than anything else. "A date?"
"Yeah, got word that Tommy – you know that ghoul I was with in the Combat Zone? Got word that he's in Diamond City." Cait smiled slightly, gazing off into the distance beyond the misshapen walls. "I need to go pay him a visit. Say thanks to the old bastard, if nothing else."
Piper nodded wordlessly, relieved if nothing else, though she'd have been stunned if Cait had actually been about to announce any infidelity to Piper while Nora was just in the room upstairs.
"Maybe I'll give him a good ol' punch as well." Cait smirked. "You know, thanks for selling me off like a hunk of meat like he did."
The reporter chanced a chuckle, even as she knew the topic matter wasn't really funny at all. She'd never talked to Cait about it of course, but she'd heard snippets of her tale and backstory from Blue. She knew enough to know that Cait held this Tommy in something like high regard, even if he had essentially used her as little more than slave labour for his boxing ring. Piper wasn't about to claim that she understood it all, but she could respect it somehow.
"Alright, well, I'll be sure to let you know if we run into any giant Deathclaws or anything." Piper smirked slightly. One other thing she knew about Cait was that the redhead loved to fight large monsters.
Well, she loved to fight just about anything really.
Cait chuckled. "You better save some for me though, Pipes. I'll be coming on the next one, for sure."
"We'll do our best. Though you know what Blue's like." Piper smiled. If they did come across any Deathclaws, Piper had no doubt that Nora wouldn't hesitate to fight them all at once. The scariest thing was that in such a bout, the blonde would surely come out on top somehow.
Cait smirked. "Yeah, she's a good 'un. Well, just watch each other's back out there, you hear me?" She murmured, gazing into Piper's eyes with a meaningful look.
The seriousness of her tone gave Piper a moment's pause. To be honest, Piper generally thought of Cait as little more than a raider with a somewhat higher capacity to function socially, so happy she was with violence and drinking and chaos and the like. Moments like these though – and they didn't happen often mind – gave Piper reason to doubt that assessment.
"Of course. I'll bring her back in one piece." Piper swore. "I promise, Cait."
That seemed to appease the brawler. Cait grinned, nodded, and then went back to her breakfast as though nothing of significance had passed.
Blue reappeared a few moments later, hopping down the stairs with a heavy looking rifle in hand.
"Ready!" Blue reported, still smiling like the sun.
"You alright carrying that, Blue?" Piper nodded at the weapon dubiously.
"Yeah?" Nora raised a confused eyebrow then raised the gun one handed to prove that she could indeed lift it, despite it looking like it weighed as much as she did. It was less a gun and more a cannon, one with a series of thick metal coils running up either side of the barrel. "No problem."
"Do I even want to know where you got that?" Piper smirked as she stood.
"Ronnie Shaw, of the Minutemen, she sold it to me." Blue held the rifle in both hands as she examined it. The blonde had a delighted grin on her face. "I've been dying to try this baby out."
"Just try not to blow yourself up, yeah?" Cait quipped.
"Aww, you do care." Nora trilled as she wandered over to place a kiss on the redhead's head.
"I'm serious." Cait gave her a pointed look. "Don't do anything stupid, you hear?"
"We'll be fine." Blue assured her lover. "You don't need to worry about us. We can take care of ourselves you know."
"I know, I know." Cait murmured, casually reaching out to grab Nora's waist and pull her in close. She hugged the blonde, kissing her chest a tad possessively. "But I worry about you when I'm not there to protect you."
Blue smiled, it was an awfully touched expression. "Well don't. Besides, I'm sure Piper can look after me."
Cait switched her gaze to Piper then. The reporter involuntarily swallowed as the brawler roved her keen eyes over her form.
"Hmm, maybe you're better off being the one protecting the scrawny journalist here." Cait smirked, a teasing twinkle in her eyes. "She's nothing but skin and bones that one."
Piper scowled.
"She's impossible, isn't she?" Blue asked Piper with a roll of her eyes. Then, without waiting for an answer, she pressed a kiss to red hair. "Right then, we're off."
"Oh well, if you gotta." Cait sighed with a long, leisurely stretch of her arms. She turned a mischievous look to Piper, roving her gaze up and down the reporter once more.
Why did Piper feel like she was being sized up for the kill?
"You two have fun together, Piper. Too bad we can't make it a threesome." Cait winked.
Piper blinked, cheeks surely flushing from embarrassment. She didn't even look at Blue for her reaction, couldn't bring herself to do it. So instead, she merely shrugged it off with a roll of her eyes. "Never gonna happen, Cait."
"That right?" Cait chuckled, her smirk only growing larger and more predatory. With just a couple of fingers, she played with a knife on the table top for a moment. "Tell you what then, how about I come with?"
"You will?" Piper and Nora asked simultaneously, the latter decidedly more enthusiastic than the former.
"Course. Tommy can wait. The old bastard won't be going anywhere." Cait picked herself up from her seat. "Just let me go grab my stuff, ok?"
"Ok!" Blue smiled a million watts.
"Sure." Piper drawled, cursing her luck.